That was kind of the point. US and Europe have had the technical ability to trace cash, but not the resources or werewithal to do it unless they were dealing wi

That was kind of the point. US and Europe have had the technical ability to trace cash, but not the resources or werewithal to do it unless they were dealing with money laundering or counterfeiting. That being said, the federal government does track money more granularly now--cash payments to businesses usually get dropped off at the bank on a nightly or weekly basis, and banks do scan all bills they receive and compare them against a list of flagged or counterfeit bills. And for the most part, minorities using large amounts of cash were always subject to additional requirements to "prove" their identity and the provenance of the money. The legacy of this is that banking amongst minorities is a lot lower, especially in the black and Latino communities.